Rultaos

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

Over the past 39 hours, the mad bomber spent most of his time in the ship's lab. Though Stryker had given the order to purge all the data from the Alliance Labs that they had levelled, Benny of course activated a sub-routine within his virus that copied data containing some keywords he had put in to make a copy of the relevant files before deleting/corrupting it. These small data fragments were saved on Skelly for him to review later, and as luck would have it he had found something that piqued his interest, with enough of its files saved for him to piece it together.

Apparently one of the side-projects the lab was working on was some kind of handheld tractor-beam device. Other than trying to see if he could reconstruct the rest of the data to make a viable blueprint for the device, he was also running simulations on his programs on skelly to see if it was possible to create a “Mag-Grenade” design from it; a handheld device that violently pulls objects towards it. Benny imagined he could make some creative chaos out of that, but it was mostly a theory. Yet, it was a theory he had spent a good portion of the last few days slaving away on. He had slept in the labs as well instead of his room, with nothing short of food and water needs forcing him out to the rest of the ship.

Still, he had an odd feeling that he had forgotten something. It kept creeping up on the back of his mind every now and then throughout the whole trip. He shrugged it off however, thinking that it can’t have been too important if he had forgotten it.

He felt the rumble of the ship when it had docked, but he paid little mind to it as he continued his little personal project. Stryker’s voice came on the comms right on schedule as they did, announcing that their crew had free reign to do as they pleased during their little break. The Scotsman internally scoffed at the notion of having fun out in a rowdy station, far too many opportunities to get mugged or stabbed in a back alley if one were to frequent the places that most criminals did. His idea of leisure was working with his tools. People and society are too complex and nuanced. At least physics and chemistry are known values that don’t change He thought.

A little later, he had gone out on one of his routine food trips to the ship’s kitchen. Spending a few minutes chowing down on some potentially synthetic meats and drinking from one of their citrus juices, he finished, leaving the used plates and glass on the table as he got up to return to his lab.

Stryker caught his attention on the way out. "Benny, how's it going man? Listen, how about you and me dodge out for a drink? I'm supposed to be meeting someone, wouldn't mind some backup in case it goes sideways,” their leader said.

Benny considered this for a moment, thinking perhaps some air would do him some good anyway, to keep his immune system from degenerating due to over-exposure to sanitized ship air. And some action may scratch the adrenaline itch that had been building up during lulls in between working on his project.

”Aye, why not? Where to? How much heat ya need me ta’ pack?” he asked, wondering how much he’d get away with hiding to wherever they were going.

@Crossfire

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

Following their captain out of the war room, Benny felt a sense of both curiousity and apprehension. If there was one thing he had learned about Stryker throughout all his time aboard the Revenant, it was that the stoic Bounty Hunter wasn't easily spooked or surprised. So whatever he was expecting certainly had to be a Hell of a thing. Matija and Harriet trailed behind them as they made their way to the ship's medical bay. Stryker had gotten there first and slid the doors open. Whatever Benny was expecting, it certainly wasn't that.

Their pilot was lying on the medical table, limp as if unconscious. There was a girl inside the medical bay, staring at one of the faucet mirrors. Someone he didn't quite recognize, yet felt oddly familiar. It took a little bit for him to notice the neck tattoos, the muscular build, and hairstyle of the girl, which matched those of the Skaldrum pirates that they had fought very recently.

He instinctively flinched back away from the woman and tensed up. "What tha' Hell's this pirate doin' here?! Is she a prisoner? Why dinnae we restrain her?!" Benny sputtered out as he felt for the wrist-laser he still had mounted on Skelly as a "just in case" policy whenever he could get away with it.

Stryker then spoke up. "Tibulus? That you in there?" He asked. Benny turned towards Stryker with an incredulous look on his face. "Has yer noggin gone batshit, cap'n? Wot are ya talkin' about? Tibulus is conked out on tha' table" He said as he raised the wrist laser to point at the redheaded woman.

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

@Crossfire@t2wave@Gardevoiran@iTem

"Yeah, I've got a cover story written up in my after-action report, haven't transmitted it yet though. I'm gonna tell them the truth, just not the part where I ordered the scientists killed and the research destroyed. Here's what I've got...

A Skaldurm patrol skiff spotted us shortly after landing, just around the time our undercover operative completed her mission, a task Taleste paid her life to pull off. We headed down into the facility, but technical glitches prevented us from sealing the doors before the Skaldurm raiders arrived en masse. Lives were lost trying to defend the scientists, but ultimately we couldn't save them, the savages killed them, tore into their unarmored bodies like lions on a gazelle. An errant laser blast in the lab cracked the containment cube on the prototype generator, dark matter seeped out into the open air, and in its volatile state, destroyed the entire lab, we barely escaped with our lives." Stryker explained.

Benny nodded along throughout the explanation, and waited until Stryker had finished before he said his piece before replying. "Soun's believable enough but ya better hope Captain Dawsack dinnae ask about tha' specific of these technical problems. Even I'd 'ave trouble keepin' 'em consistent" Benny replied.

After a while though, Stryker told them that everyone was getting an anti-toxin shot because of the spores that the plant-lady Harriet had released upon them all during their operation, to which Benny groaned in response. "Urgh... Always hated needles. Always thought of 'em as tha' worst part of gettin' cybernetic limbs attached" He said with a tone of joking annoyance.

Before any of them could get around to getting stabbed with it however, a voice rang out on the intercoms in the War room. it was an unfamiliar female voice, and that fact put Benny on edge, especially after remembering that they had taken one of the Skaldrum alive. The voice summoned Stryker to the medbay but didn't specify what. Benny turned away fro mthe speakers to look at Stryker wit a questioning glance.

"Sooo... Any otha' secret projects we should be aware of while we're here?" He asked, somewhat sarcastically.

An Inquisitors Story: The City of Ash and Decay (A High-Casual journey)

As the beast fell and lay still, Cyterius continued maintaining his stance, waiting for the giant to remain immobile for a few moments, before relaxing and gesturing at his team to stand down. They immediately tensed up again however when the unidentified voice began booming again. Cyterius had one hand shoot up to his head in response to the sudden voice while another hand darted for his sword instinctively.

the disembodied voice spoke in riddles once again, and Ardur actually had the nerve to speak up against it, despite not knowing the extent of whatever this being's power was. The voice began dying away, and Cyterius was about to call for his team to regroup, when a loud sound caught everyone's attention once again and let them behold the incredible display of magic within and above the City of Ash. Cyterius was stunned and watched it, mesmerized with a morbid curiosity as to what would happen, though his body twitched internally as his survival instincts reacted to his gut feelings of fear and unease, and prepared him to act on a moment's notice the moment a threat made itself clear.

When the spectacle ended, and the invisible army seemed to march away, Cyterius allowed himself to relax slightly and feel the relief of a finished battle. Though his eyes and ears still scanned the surroundings, in case it was merely a trick to get them to lower their guard. you could never be too sure when it came to magic. Finally, he gestured to the nearby Falcons and had them walk back to their allies' lines.

The Falcons complied, and they regrouped with their two teammates who had temporarily joined Lanithil’s Archer Platoon, just as Ardur began giving out his orders.

He reprimanded the inquisitors on site for not having dealt with it as efficiently as they should have. Cyterius often took criticisms against his fellow Falcons personally, but in this case he felt inclined to agree. The lack of discipline from the two soldiers whom Cyterius could not remember the names of ended up wasting their lives needlessly. Meanwhile Gilead’s premature charge had left him exposed and very nearly cost his life within the first battle of their campaign. The life of an Inquisitor of all people! Had it not been for the timely intervention of their allies, Cyterius knew there was little he could have done to have saved Gil in that situation. He probably would’ve gotten himself killed trying. Losing 2 Inquisitors in a single day would’ve been a horrid start to their journey.

With that said, things could have been much worse. Only their heavy hitters and best fighters, like Kharne, Genthok, and Gilead, had engaged the giant melee after the loss of the 2 over-eager soldiers. Cyterius feared the worst case scenario where the giant charged into their footmen lines and raised Hell by cutting their men down in droves with every swipe, all while reducing the ability of their Mages to attack for fear of catching their allies within the spell’s area of effect. Thankfully, between their melee warriors’ combat skill, the Falcons’ distractions, the Archery unit's support volleys, and their Mage’s offensive and stalling spells, the giant was kept out of range of the majority of their forces and allowed their spellcasters plenty of room to tear into the foe. Gilead even redeemed himself from his reckless behavior by delivering the coup-de-grace against the giant in spectacular fashion. Cyterius would still call it a victory all things considered. Gods know they would have suffered a staggering amount of casualties had the giant reached their massed lines.

With the Falcons regrouped around him, they nodded an acknowledgment to Ardur's orders and began to observe the area around them. Lilianna and several inquisitors, mages and scholars alike were studying the corpse of the slain giant. Cyterius would have assisted if he could, but the Falcons' trade was in killing. Had he not already witnessed the killing blow, he would've been able to determine how the giant was killed from the angle of their body, the death wound, blood splatters, and the shape of their injuries. The anatomy and magical nature of the creature was far beyond his expertise though. If the creature died, it had vital organs that could be damaged and that was about as far as Cyterius' knowledge went.

Percival however, seemed quite interested in their study of the corpse and looked towards Cyterius in a wordless request for permission to join them. Cyterius knew their resident tinkerer and alchemist would not miss a chance to learn about the nature and properties of an unknown creature, and so he nodded towards the group in assent. Immediately, the short, black-haired, and slightly pudgy Falcon with blue eyes put away his full-sized custom crossbow (which he had used extensively as part of Lanithil's impromptu archer unit) and went to get a closer look at the armored beast and listen in to the insights of the others.

At this point, he and his group had wandered near Lanithil where Gilead appeared to thank them for their efforts in the fight. Cyterius realized belatedly that he had noticed Gil speaking to multiple people earlier before he walked up to them. He nodded in acknowledgement to Gil's compliments. "My thanks, but we merely did our duty in that situation. We all hinge on each part of this army doing their jobs to survive against out enemies. And it appears the enemy we face now is one we cannot afford to make mistakes against. Do your job and I can assure you my men and I will have your back" He said. Cyterius still had yet to trust his fellow Inquisitors as much as he trusted his Falcons, but he hoped they would eventually prove themselves worthy of that trust... Before fate decided to force them to rely on trusting each other.

With Percival left behind with the scholars, the rest of the Falcons followed Cyterius as they approached Ardur, each one stretching their limbs so as not to shock their body with sudden inactivity after creating so much adrenaline. "Sir, with your permission I would like to scan around the city perimeter before we move in with our main force. I do not know what kind magic they had used at the end there. I believe I heard Genthok use the term 'portal' and 'hellgate', and even if the voice said it was done with us for now, but I'd rather not rely on our enemy acting so predictably. With your blessing, I'd like to take one of our mages to come with me and my team as we scout the edge of the city and the approach to the gate area for any traps or magical energy that could be a danger to a large mob of infantry, and clear it out if necessary. After our close battle earlier it would be difficult to needlessly lose more men at this stage," He said, before turning his head to look upon the walled city ahead of them. "And I have a sinking feeling we're going to need everyone we can get for what lies ahead," he finished ominously as he wondered what other trials would be forced onto them on this campaign they were on.

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

((OOC: Mini-collab with @iTem

@Crossfire@T2wave

Benny arrived in the War Room alongside Matija, having been awaited by his white-haired companion to ensure that he was actually going to change into something remotely decent. They had arrived just some moments after Stryker's statements, and saw their leader having something being injected into their arm by the plant-lady, Harriet.

"Gettin' yer flu shots early this year, cap'n?" Benny joked as he walked around the galaxy map to stand nearer to their other 2 crewmates. He'd wait a bit for their responses before continuing to talk about the matter at hand.

Matija smiled bitterly at the joke. "Prob'ly caught some kinda flu from someone," she added.

Benjamin looked at her curiously due to the vague remark, but shrugged at it dismissively and turned back to Stryker to speak. "Fer what my yammerin's worth on this ship, I would'a done tha' same thing ta' that research. No Galactic government should have a weapon that powerful. Too easy ta' threaten people with ta' get their way. Not to mention it dinnae feel right. An explosion that can scatter bodies an' buildings is as satisfyin' as poppin' bubble wrap. But killin' entire systems with a vacuum that just makes it... disappear jus' feels... wrong in so many bloody ways. Wut's tha' point of killin' if ya cannae even see the results of yer handiwork?" He said as he looked on the holographic projection of the galaxy map, trying to imagine the number of planets and stars that would've just disappeared unceremoniously from it if the Alliance ever decided to fire their Black Hole Gun at their current system.

Matija spoke up as he finished his statement. "Not getting your handiwork shown to the whole universe to see ain't exactly fun, but you gotta do what you gotta when you're in the Alliance's shoes. But it's also wasted effort on the brainiacs' part since we should've had some kinda backup data or something. It'd be nice for some money or for our own," she shrugs, leaning forward and placing her chin on her arms that she had crossed on top of the holographic table. She huffs in boredom and poked at the holographic display with idle interest. "I hope you got a good excuse for this bull, Stryker. I know what I signed up for when I came to this ship, but I plan on keeping my head from rolling off'a my neck," She said, hoping for a satisfactory response from their leader.

An Inquisitors Story: The City of Ash and Decay (A High-Casual journey)

@MagratheanWhale @Trainerblue192

Trainer has a point actually, I don't think I've seen Pandapolio post a combat IC during the giant fight yet. the last time they posted was before the battle, but nothing since then

An Inquisitors Story: The City of Ash and Decay (A High-Casual journey)

Cyterius watched the giant warily as their fellow Inquisitors hit it with a relentless barrage of attacks. Ardur had gotten back on his feet and barked commands to coordinate their battle. Without being given direct orders by Ardur, Cyterius decided the best course of action is to continue their diversionary maneuvers to give the others the opening they needed.

As Kharne wrestled with the best, Cyterius signaled orders to the Falcons. "Equip wrist-bows and tighten the noose! Aim for the eye slits and launch volleys on my mark!" He ordered, advancing carefully closer to the giant as he reloaded the bolt magazine on his Salvo-Arm. His team did the same, advancing and equipping the ranged weapon while keeping enough distance from the giant that they wouldn't be in immediate danger should the creature lunge at them suddenly with its uncanny speed. They would have at least a few seconds to dodge if they see it coming.

As their crossbows were locked and loaded on their arms, Kharne was shaken off the giant and the Falcons braced themselves for evasion if needed. However, water suddenly erupted from the ground and entangled the giant with large root-like appendages. The water froze almost instantly after enveloping the foe, keeping it in place. Cyterius didn't bother checking who cast the spell, he read the situation and capitalized on it quickly.

"Now! Unload, reload, and repeat into its eyes! Every bolt you've got! Give this beast no chance to rally!" Cyterius commanded his team as he fired a flurry of bolts into the trapped giant's eye slits, before detaching the emptied magazine and slamming a new one into place with the practiced precision of one who has used the Salvo-Arm extensively. He hoped that at least a few among his team's shots makes it through and hurts them. They intended to distract the beast as an insect would, biting and pricking at it to keep it from focusing its attention on freeing itself and counter-attacking. In turn, providing precious seconds for their allies to renew their assault and finish off their enemy before they exhausted their ammo supply.

Revenant: A Sci-Fi Adventure (Always Accepting!)

"Good job down there. If I make it through the next hour or two without being keelhauled for what happened down there, find me for a drink, we'll toast to a job well done." Stryker said with a pat on Benny's shoulder. Benny looked around behind him to face him before replying. "If ya wanna get real crazy, ser, I can add a little bit o' me own mix ta' spice it up. Yer call" He said as he powered down the turret controls to allow Tibulus to use more of the ship's energy in navigation. Stryker left the helm and Benny followed soon after in order to get out of his armor as well.

In his quarters he quickly released the seals on his armor as they hissed out the compressed air. His clothes underneath were soaked but he wasn't too uncomfortable with them. He simply hung them out to dry in his room while he took a quick shower, before returning to put on the used clothing.

Around this point he heard the announcement made by Stryker to have the crew meet up in the War Room. Seeing as he didn't have much else to do, and also curious as to how the battle played out for the ones on the upper floors of the labs he decided to head over there as well, smelling only slightly better than he did earlier. He took some wireless earbuds from his room, synced them up to Skelly, and then tapped on the holographic interface to start playing a rock music cover of some ancient orchestral track loud enough for anyone standing next to him to hear the sounds as he made his way through the vessel to their meeting room.

An Inquisitors Story: The City of Ash and Decay (A High-Casual journey)

Though the fight had started in an intimidating fashion, the Inquisition rallied and quickly coordinated their efforts by assaulting their titanic foe with all manner of attacks and spells. The giant was knocked over by the combined assault from Ardur's fire, Kharne's Acid and the ground destabiliziation from Genthok. Ardur got knocked away however, and two overzealous soldiers ended up getting killed from charging in prematurely. The giant displayed uncanny speed and agility despite falling to the ground and being encased in plate armor as he was.

Gilead charged in and called upon both him and Kharne to support him. "Don't commit to an assault like those two did! We haven't opened a chink in armor yet! Stay at a maneuverable distance! Cyterius called back in response as he and his 3 Falcons spread out and formed a wide circle around the giant, with the intention of each member getting the giant's attention if their foe wandered their way and kite them so as to buy time for the magic users to keep peeling away at its defenses.

Kharne charged past Gilead and proceeded to attack the creature with its own axehead. Gil on the other hand proceeded to pull out one of the strange spears from a body in the field. Somehow, this seemed to have gotten the giant's attention, causing the colossal creature to smash the ground and send a shockwave at the half-elven inquisitor, knocking them off-balance before winding up for a charge at them.

"Move!" Cyterius called from a good way behind Gil as he himself moved out of the way of the potential path of the charge while firing a couple crossbow bolts from his wrists at the helmet's eye-slits. He doubted it would do anything to stop the charge, but they were guaranteed to lose an Inquisitor if they didn't try anything.

Thankfully, someone else moved in to save them from the danger as the giant was hammered with a violent torrent of water. turning to see the source he saw River riding on what appeared to be Genthok's bear, in an attempt to break the charge, as well as converting the ground before the giant and Gil into ice to keep their enemy from charging effectively. "Quick thinking!" He called out to the Lalafell elf before returning his attention to the battle.

Before the giant had much time to react to the concentrated magic assault, it was hit with another attack, this time a blinding light shot out from elsewhere in the field, striking the armored giant with what appeared to be a fork of lightning directly on its legs. "That HAD to have hurt!" Nischa called out in the distance as she kept her stance, ready to dodge out of the way should the giant shift their attention to her.

Then all at once, Gil suddenly began disappearing while the giant's attention was drawn away while an illusory Gil appeared closer to the giant, as if preparing to attack, while the ground suddenly shook and plant vines erupted from the earth as they attempted to advance towards the giant. Had cyterius not been familiar with the feats of magic his fellow inquisitors were capable of, he'd have been terrified of the sight, but as it stood he was only thankful that they could rally such powerful forces against enemies such as the colossus before them

Cyterius had little time to see who was casting which spell, focusing on the giant and how they would react to the barrage. Given how the giant reacted to Gil's actions, Cyterius figured they could use it to their advantage to manipulate their movements."Falcons! Move to the nearest spear and hold your ground. Be ready to pull one out to draw this beast's attention if one of our comrades is in peril!" He ordered as he moved to a nearby impaled body, steadying his breathing in preparation of dodging away from the giant's wrath should he need to take the pressure off the others. Until they could find an opening from which to kill the creature, Cyterius had little he could contribute to the assault.

An Inquisitors Story: The City of Ash and Decay (A High-Casual journey)

"if it were the Blight I may have approved of it; however, we are faced with a new, even more brutal and cunning enemy than our age-old one... the enemy could be watching us right now... until we have further reinforcements we must all stick together, and limit the risks we take, at least until we know more about what happened here," Ardur answered. "Alright, everyone spread back out, and if you see anything that may be important bring it to my attention," He ordered.

"As you command, sir" Cyterius responded with a salute before turning to Nischa. "Summon the rest of the unit, I want us spread out with eyes covering as many angles as we can" He told her. "Fine but if I miss anything good, you owe me" the girl replied. Cyterius rolled his eyes as Nischa left with a chuckle.

---

Over the course of two hours, the Luna Falcons had set up around the treeline in hidden spots, spread among other Inquisition scouts, so that if any of them had spotted anything of note they could immediately tell Cyterius and Ardur, as their perception was a cut above their peers given how early they had begun their training in the art of scouting and tracking. The Elven Inquisitor Lanathil had already taken the initiative of checking the woods for any signs of a force passing through but strangely found none, and Samson and the others corroborated that after Nischa had brought them through. It was odd, and the sense of wrongness about the whole affair was putting Cyterius on edge An attack from the inside. No traces of outside forces supporting them. No trace of anyone leaving either. But no signs nor noises so far to say that whoever attacked is still in the city... What are we facing here? He wondered with concern as he continued observing from his lookout point above one of the trees, wearing his Falcon cloak to hide the shine of his armor in case there were any enemy scouts on the walls, which there did not seem to be.

He flinched slightly when he heard the distant sound of horses approaching from behind them, but relaxed when he remembered that Anora and her reinforcements were supposed to arrive by now. Still he decided it best to err on the side of caution and ensure it truly was their allies arriving, so he quickly climbed down from his perch and went deeper into the trees. Upon seeing that several of approaching humanoid figures had the symbol of the Inquisition, he gestured at them to guide them towards their main position where Ardur was situated so that they could immediately report in to him. Cyterius accompanied them as they reached Ardur and listened in on their conversation, explaining why Anora was not with them as they had expected her to be.After which, he gave everyone present their tasks.

"Spread out the soldiers evenly along the line, we will move forward on the city shortly," Ardur began before gesturing for Cyterius to approach him. "Cyterius, prepare your friends, as the main body of soldiers approaches I want your unit to find a way onto those walls, stay hidden and be ready to strike if need be, go" He commanded.

"It will be done," He responded as he turned away while their leader spoke to the others. He put his hands up to his mouth and let out a high-pitched bird whistle which was his practiced way of telling the Luna Falcons to regroup with him. He stood patiently and awaited their arrival in the main area when suddenly a booming voice echoed in his mind, causing him to grimace as he put a hand up to his head in confusion.

"Finally... Come, now, soldiers of the Inquisition," It demanded in a raspy, eerily ghost-like voice. It suddenly shifted into a whisper however as it continued. "step out from the shadows and into the light... let me see those who offer their prayers to me," it finished as everything became silent once more. "What in the gods' name..." Cyterius muttered, disturbed by what he, and everyone else had seemingly experienced. He knew of the powers of magic and how they could bend reality to a spell-caster's will, but such a feat as speaking into all their minds at once was something he had only heard of in fairytales and legends. The implications were far from comforting.

"Cy! What just happened?! A familiar voice called out as Nischa arrived, with the rest of the Falcons following behind. "I think everyone heard that voice, where did it come from? Samson asked him urgently. Cyterius wasn't sure how to answer.

They heard Ardur's voice ring out from nearby however Inquisition, move out!" He ordered as the thump of dozens of armored feet began shaking the ground. Cyterius turned back to his unit. "I don't know what just happened, but we should be wary of our enemy now more than ever. We have orders: Find a way for our soldiers through the walls and that's all we should be concerned with right now. Falcons, on me!" He commanded with a gesture as they began running to one of their army's flanks to draw as little attention to themselves as they could during the approach.

"Good, good..." the voice whispered again. "MY CHAMPION AWAITS YOUR PRAYERS" the voice bellowed suddenly "MAY YOUR PRAYER BECKON LOUDER THAN HIS" It finished in a booming echo. "Ignore it and focus, everyone!" Samson called out to the other 5 Falcons, as always the glue that kept their group together. "We need to find an entry point as soon as-" He began but was suddenly cut off when loud thumbing began to shake the ground beneath them. "That's... not our army is it? Valena, the Falcons' resident archer said. "No... It's not," Cyterius answered as they scanned around for the source of the tremors. From what they could tell it came from within the walls of the City of Ash. Their group stopped just a little way ahead of a group of Archers on army's right flank, with the gates further to their left. Their hands all gravitated towards their weapons as they awaited what horrors would emerge from within.

Their questions were answered when an ironclad giant emerged from the ruined gates, no chinks or gaps in the armor as far as anyone could see. Covered in the flesh and guts of its victims while holding an impossibly large axe. It let out a deafening battlecry as it began to run at them.

"MOVE! Everyone to the right flank!" Cyterius ordered as they distanced themselves slightly from the main force that the giant was coming to meet head-on, hoping to keep themselves from engaging it until it was the best time to do so. "How do we kill that?!" Darius, their group's assassin and stealthiest member asked in what came across as a harsh whisper. Cyterius had no answer to give, having never seen nor heard of any creature such as this. But knew if they did not think of something fast their whole army was in danger of being completely routed.

From the side, he overheard River's long explanation, and stopped to listen but remaining tense to move on a whim as their foe rapidly closed the distance. Kharne immediately spewed out a jet of acid on the giant the moment River told him to. As far as he was hearing, their only option at the moment was to buy time until they had a solution.

"Valena, Percival, stay with the Archers and fire in unison. Samson, Nischa, Darius, you three are with me. We'll circle the edge of the battlefield and make for the gates of the city. Once that monster reaches our forces, we'll draw its attention and kite them into the ruins. It's strong, but not strong enough to bash through the stone of the walls. We can lead it on a chase through the ruins if necessary" Cyterius ordered as they split off and began running, hoping their allies could make the most of their time. "We're going to play tag with that thing? And you tell me I'M the one who has crazy ideas?!" Nischa retorted but followed anyway along with the rest of the team, trying not to draw attention to themselves until it was their turn to kite the giant